Young people to benefit from Lottery grants

They are among 92 groups across Northern Ireland who are sharing in a total grants windfall of £750,350.

Causeway Branch of Early Years, a not-for-profit organisation, promotes early years education.

They are using the £9,288 grant to train practitioners on the ‘Voice of a Child’ course to benefit children in the Causeway area.

Balinteer Bowling Club, based in Coleraine, promotes and plays indoor bowls. They are using the £9,841 grant to buy new equipment and make repairs to the hall, for use by the wider community.

Ballymoney United Football Social and Recreation will use a grant of £9,841 to provide a weekend of cross-community cultural events for children and adults to promote volunteering and community spirit.

And a grant of £3,904 will help Bushmills District Lodge No 21 to run a series of Ulster Scots celebration events for volunteers and the wider community.

The Lodge provides a range of cultural and educational activities for the community in the Bushmills area.

Awards for All offers community, voluntary and statutory groups the chance to apply for small grants of between £500 and £10,000 that will have a big impact on communities and the lives of people most in need.

Joanne McDowell, Big Lottery Fund NI Director, said: “The Big Lottery Fund’s NI Awards for All programme funds health, education, environment and community projects that help people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and well-being, develop skills and create safer communities.

“The application process is simple and accessible and shall remain so, making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.”

The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK.

Since June 2004 The Big Lottery Fund has awarded over £6.5billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.

Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at [email protected]

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